William Seward Burroughs I

Burroughs' grave at Bellefontaine Cemetery. His grandson William's is in the lower right.

William Seward Burroughs I (January 28, 1857 – September 14, 1898) was an American inventor born in Rochester, New York, most prominently known as the inventor of a mechanical calculator.

Life and career Personal life Burroughs was the son of a mechanic and worked with machines throughout his childhood. While a small boy, his parents moved to Auburn, New York, where he and his brothers were educated in public schools.

He married his wife, Ida (née Selover) in 1879. They had two sons and two daughters: Jennie, Horace, Mortimer (father of William S. Burroughs II), and Helen.

Company founder Burroughs founded the American Arithmometer Company in 1886. After his death, in 1904 partner John Boyer renamed the business the Burroughs Adding Machine Company.

He was awarded the Franklin Institute's John Scott Legacy Medal shortly before his death.

He died in Citronelle, Mobile County, Alabama and was interred in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.

Patents Calculating-machine. Filed January 1885, issued August 1888. Calculating-machine. Filed August 1885, issued August 1888. Calculating-machine. Filed March 1886, issued August 1888. Calculating-machine. Filed November 1887, issued August 1888. Electric alarm clock. Issued February 1892.